Biosimilars bring a new level of savings to members

When biosimilars started hitting the market a few years ago, the Yankee Alliance pharmacy team knew it was a great opportunity for our members to save money by adopting them. The pharmacy team sprang into action, when the blockbuster drug Remicade (a top 5 spend for most hospitals) came out. “As our strategy and focus in the biosimilars space, the gates were finally opened when Remicade came out”, says Bob Ritchie, Vice President of Pharmacy Services.

Growing the pharmacy contracts portfolio

Initially, the pharmacy team reached out to a pipeline of manufacturers to see where, together, they could add value to our pharmacy contracts portfolio. In doing so, the pharmacy team executed contracts with Sandoz, Coherus, Pfizer, and Teva.

During the course of executing contracts, the pharmacy team engaged in other cost savings initiatives to help our members move towards biosimilars and drive better results.

• Yankee Alliance hosted a member success networking call with two members who were successful in their biosimilar journey. The members presented their process for getting “buy in” from the medical staff and adopting these medications.

• Every quarter, Yankee Alliance sent out biosimilar cost and reimbursement data to our members for both GPO and 340B purchases. This provided insight on which products offered the best margins that quarter, as both cost and reimbursement change quarterly.

• Savings opportunities were presented on business reviews, which showed members how much money they could save by moving to biosimilars. They also offered clinical resources and support to help them achieve savings success.

The pharmacy team now continues to watch the biosimilar market and make adjustments as needed to help our members drive value in this space as new products become available as biosimilars.

To learn more about biosimilars and our pharmacy contracts portfolio, please reach out to Bob Ritchie at rritchie@yankeealliance.com.